A 2-year-old girl is currently in critical condition in Martin County, after her brother shot her in the head with a BB gun.
The Martin County Sheriff’s Office says that the toddler and her family were staying at a relative’s home because of Hurricane Irma.
The people who live at the home mentioned to deputies that the children were playing in the living room and the pellet gun was stored in the closet.
The little girl was reportedly shot in the forehead by her brother, who is also a toddler. The shooting happened around 9:35 a.m. on Wednesday.
The person who had called 911 after the shooting told dispatchers that the little girl was not breathing.
When deputies arrived at the home, the little girl was crying hysterically. She was airlifted to a local hospital.
The girl’s family members told deputies that they did not know there was a BB gun at the home.
The toddler and her family live in Okeechobee and were temporarily staying with relatives near Stuart.
Deputies have confiscated the BB gun and the Department of Children and Families was notified about the shooting.
Parents Drive Over Toddler During Domestic Dispute
It’s normal for couples to argue, it’s human nature. It’s often recommended that couples keep the “debating” for when the kids are not around, but in the heat of the moment children become inocent bystanders. This is exactly what happened in this case, but sadly, it had fatal consequences.
A toddler had to be
rushed to the hospital after being run over in the midst of an argument between his parents.
“When I saw the baby on the ground, like under the front wheel, that’s when I ran out of the house screaming, ‘The baby is on the ground! Y’all done hit the baby!’” a neighbor, Shareda Raider said.
Raider was one of several neighbors who were awakened on Wednesday morning at 3 o’clock to the sound of a fight.
Neighbors said that the fight started when Tamara Roscoe came home late from a party. Her boyfriend, Yacoubian Benner, had then started arguing with her at Autumnwood Apartments, located off Amber Leaf Way near Kirby Parkway.
The fight then spilled out into the apartment complex’s parking lot. There Benner opened fire, according to witnesses.
Officers said that nobody was shot or injured in the shooting. “They were very drunk,” a neighbor who wanted to remain anonymous said. “You could tell in their voice the way she was hollering and screaming.”
This is about the time that Roscoe’s family arrived at the home. Memphis Police Department said that Roscoe took her 1-year-old, King, and got into a car. As she was pulling out of the area, her toddler fell out of the car and got run over by it.
The toddler was then taken to Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital in extremely critical condition.
“I said, ‘I just want to know one thing is my nephew going to be OK,’” said the boy’s aunt Tamari Roscoe. “He said he is going to be fine. It’s a process.”
Tamari said that her nephew has a skull fracture.
Roscoe told investigators that after Yacobian hit her in the face, dragged her by her hair and fired a shot, she put King in the front passenger seat of a car and put the car in reverse, trying to drive off.
“It was just an accident,” Tamari said. “The baby was in the car and the car door was open, that’s how he fell out.”
Tamari, who was at the scene, said that the child fell out of the car and her sister accidentally ran over him.
When their other sister Tamia tried to break up the right, police say that Benner hit her in the face with an orange traffic cone.
Neighbors are shocked by the sequence of events and are left speechless.
“They seemed like they were nice young people to me.” said one neighbor.
Roscoe had to be treated for minor injuries at the scene. She was then arrested and has been charged with reckless endangerment, driving under the influence, reckless driving, as well as driving with a suspended license.
Officers then also arrested Benner. The man has been charged with aggravated assault as well as reckless endangerment.